Large Volume Container And Stackable Container Arrangement

ABSTRACT

A container having an upper container part having an upper container part outer profile, the upper container part having a height; a plurality of sidewalls that extend radially about at least a portion of the container, the upper container part extending from a radially inner end of the plurality of sidewalls; a container base has a central female coupling formed therein, the central female coupling having a receiving profile that is complementary to the upper container part outer profile and a depth that is greater than the height of the upper container part; and a body extending between the a radially outer end of the plurality of sidewalls and the container base. The plurality of sidewalls and the container base are longitudinally spaced apart from each other, substantially parallel to each other, and at least partially overlap radially.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application for patent claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/282,376 filed Nov. 23, 2021, and expressly incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present disclosure pertains to the field of containers and, more particularly, to containers of the gallon or larger size that can be configured into a stackable arrangement for a point-of-purchase display with minimal residual packaging as the display is merchandized, i.e., as containers are removed from the display.

Discussion of Related Art

Nesting large beverage containers and container displays exist but have drawbacks. The containers are typically positioned on a pallet for movement (e.g. by a hand truck, forklift, etc.) about warehouses and retail establishments and are often located in an open area between or at the end of shopping aisles. The displays include several tiers of nested beverage containers (e.g., large plastic bottles). Such nesting is typically accomplished by the base portion of an upper container, configured as a female coupling, that receives a neck portion of a below container, with the neck portion configured as a male coupling. For plastic containers, the weight of an upper stack weakens the neck portion of the lower stack, causing damaged or deformed containers. Such damage makes for an unappealing consumer merchandising experience and, in certain instances, can damage the container and can cause leakage of container content, e.g., water, soda, or the like. A reason for such drawbacks is that the neck of the bottle below functions as a stabilizing factor for the one or more bottles above in the merchandising display. As the rows of containers increase, the weight applied to the lower containers increase, thus causing damage in transit and/or during merchandising in the store.

In addition to the above drawbacks, a pallet requires a fair amount of secondary packaging to provide integrity to the package during transit. The need for secondary packaging does not answer the demand of the retailer to remove almost all, or all, of the secondary packaging, which clutters the store and creates an unsightly and potentially unsafe condition for consumers as well as store staff. The secondary packaging includes boxes, extra corrugate stabilizers, plastic stabilizers and hard edges, plastic wrapping, which are needed to hold the containers together on the pallets from a stability standpoint in logistics/shipment as well as on the floor of the retailer. When the consumer removes containers from the stack, the extra packaging is moved, discarded on the floor, and so on. Over the period of the day as the pallet is shopped, the mess of corrugate and plastic in the retailers rack or aisle becomes clutter. Store staff are then needed to merchandise (clean up, remove layers, open new layers, remove shipping materials, etc.) the product so it can continually be shopped by the consumer in a safe manner.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a more robust and stackable large beverage container which can be merchandized in a clean, safe and efficient manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To address the above-discussed concerns of the prior art, the present invention is directed to a container having an upper container part having an outer profile and a height, a plurality of sidewalls extending radially about at least a portion of the container, wherein the upper container part extends from a radially inner end of the plurality of sidewalls, a container base having a central female coupling formed therein, the central female coupling having a receiving profile that is complementary to the upper container part outer profile and a depth that is greater than the height of the upper container part, a body extending between the a radially outer end of the plurality of sidewalls and the container base. The plurality of sidewalls and the container base are longitudinally spaced apart from each other, substantially parallel to each other, and at least partially overlap radially.

According to one aspect of the invention, the central female coupling is configured to receive at least a portion of the upper container part outer profile without frictional engagement.

According to one aspect of the invention, the upper container part comprises a mouth and neck portion.

According to one aspect of the invention, the base comprises radial stiffening ribs.

According to one aspect of the invention, the central female coupling comprises stiffening ribs.

According to one aspect of the invention, the body comprises one or more of stiffening ribs and grip regions.

According to one aspect of the invention, the plurality of sidewalls are separated by one or more shoulders.

One aspect of the invention is a shipping configuration for a plurality of the containers. The shipping configuration includes a shipping pallet, a plurality of the containers in a first tier arranged in rows and columns on the shipping pallet, a first slip sheet arranged on the first tier of the plurality of containers, wherein the first slip sheet rests on respective sidewalls of the plurality of containers of the first tier, wherein an upper container part of each container projects through the first slip sheet, a plurality of the containers in a second tier arranged in rows and columns on the first tier. The respective central female couplings are arranged to receive respective upper container parts of each container that project through the first slip sheet and respective container bases of the second tier are supported by respective sidewalls of the first tier. A second slip sheet is arranged on the second tier of the plurality of containers. The second slip sheet rests on respective sidewalls of the plurality of containers of the second tier. An upper container part of each container projects through the second slip sheet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained in more detail in the following with reference to the figures. Like or similar elements are designated with consistent reference numerals. In particular, the figures show:

FIG. 1A is a side view of a bottle/container in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 1B is another side view of the container;

FIG. 1C is a front view of the container;

FIG. 1D is a top view of the container;

FIG. 1E is a bottom view of the container;

FIG. 2A shows a multi-tier stack of containers in a pallet arrangement for a merchandising display;

FIG. 2B shows a slip sheet used to position containers in the stacked arrangement; and

FIG. 2C shows positions of containers engaged with a slip sheet.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

According to an aspect of the present invention, a large beverage container, such as a 1-gallon size, is provided in a ready stackable bottle configuration with minimal secondary packaging required when such bottles are palletized, i.e. arranged in a nested and stacked configuration on a pallet for merchandising in a retail establishment. One aspect of the present invention addresses a need of retailers wanting the removal of secondary packaging from the pallet. While disclosed with respect to a beverage container, the disclosed container can be filled with liquids or solids.

According to one aspect of the present invention, substantially all secondary packaging is not required in the finished pallet. All that is needed are perforated slip sheets disposed between layers of the stack of containers on the pallet. The slip sheets, coupled with the bottle design, are integral to the stability of the bottle stack. The pallet can be dropped in place by the retailer, plastic stretch film, which surrounds the product, is cut off the pallet and removed to provide access to the containers/bottles, the top slip sheet removed, and the consumer can then shop the pallet, without having to navigate any secondary packaging. When a tier of the stack is empty, the next slip sheet can be removed to allow access to the next tier and so on. Once the pallet is shopped down to the remaining bottle, all that remains are the slip sheets and the pallet. There is no requirement of store staff to merchandise the pallet, as there is no mess to maintain, packages to open, or materials to remove; the consumer has absolute access to the product without any hindrance.

From a retailer perspective, particularly on the logistics, transportation and warehousing side, higher humidity and temperature, particularly from June-November in many areas of the US, causes additional concerns. This is because corrugate and secondary packaging of the prior art designs tend to weaken in such conditions. This weakening causes pallet failure and or the need to rewrap pallets in warehouses. For customers with large distribution centers with sometimes hundreds of pallets moving per day, the havoc this creates is both massively frustrating, expensive, and potentially dangerous. As a 1 gallon bottle of water weighs approximately 8.5 lbs., having close to 250 bottles on a pallet that is fairly or extremely weakened due to the corrugate being impacted from humidity or damage from prior bottle designs, is an enormous challenge.

With the bottle of the present invention, and the removal of secondary packaging, other than rigid, thick corrugate slip sheets, there is a significantly-reduced occurrence of pallets “bowing” or weakening because there is no secondary packaging which can be weakened. Secondarily, the removal of the need to merchandise the pallet in the retail store is a major time and expense saver. Thirdly, the risk or potential of risk with the secondary packaging being ripped open, plastic and cardboard strewn about the aisle and under the racks was and is a potentially liability for the retailer. Having the containers freely accessible, yet 100% stable, removes a significant potential for risk of the excess materials not being there and containers falling out of weakened boxes or support materials with the old designs/product offerings.

FIGS. 1A-1C depict various elevations of a container 10 in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. The container is configured as a bottle for a large volume of water as is typically used by consumers with a bottle cooler/dispenser. Shown is a 3.8 liter bottle, but other sizes can be realized by those of ordinary skill in the art. One aspect of the invention is the manner in which the neck and base of a container is formed so that they are complementary to each other for stacking. Such features can be scaled for different container sizes.

The container or bottle (both terms are used interchangeably) includes a mouth 12, a neck portion 13, sidewalls 14, a base 36, and a body that extends longitudinally between the neck 13 and the base 36. While the mouth 12 is shown as having a threaded portion, which is configured to receive a threaded cap, the mouth 12 may be sealed with a press fit cap or other commercially acceptable seal. The sidewalls 14, when viewed together, provide a square profile that serve as load bearing edges for vertically arranged like containers, as described below.

According to one aspect of the invention, the sidewalls 14 are substantially radially extending portions at the upper end of the body that act as respective supports for respective supported tiers. The sidewalls 14 are generally rectangular and together form a generally square support, which corresponds to the profile of the bottle 10. It should be noted that other profile shapes are conceivable, but a generally four-sided square profile for the sidewalls 14 and base 36 are shown in the drawings. The mouth 12 and neck portion 13 form an upper container part that extends longitudinally from the sidewalls 14. Shoulders 16 are provided at the corners between the sidewalls 14 for loadbearing strength, and a plurality of stiffening ribs 22 are provided along the body of the container as shown. Typically, the shoulders 16 are indents. Also included are grip regions 30 to allow a consumer to grasp the container with a single hand to remove the container from the stack. Details can be provided around the grip region to provide strength to those regions, as is known.

FIGS. 1B and 1C show other side view of the container 10. Stiffening ribs 22 extend about the entire perimeter of the body. The hidden stiffening ribs 22 on the far side of the body are shown as dashed lines in FIG. 1B. A central female coupling 34 is also shown in dashed lines and has a complementary profile configured to receive the upper container part outer profile. For the 3.8 liter bottle. The upper container part outer profile has an overall height of about 46.08 mm, measured from the sidewalls 14 and the central female coupling 34 has a depth of about 48.76 mm, measured from the base 36. In this manner, a distal end of the mouth 12 does not come into contact with an innermost part of the central female coupling 34.

Turning now to FIGS. 1D and 1E, there are shown top and bottom views, respectively, of the container 10. The top view shows the square profile formed by the side walls 14. While shown as a four-sided structure, other polygonal shapes can be considered. The bottom view in FIG. 1E shows base 36 and the central female coupling 34 surrounded by a plurality of radial bottom stiffening ribs 32. As can be seen in FIG. 1B, the central female coupling 34 comprises stiffening ribs. As shown in FIG. 1E, the base 36 has a substantially square portion that is complementarily formed with respect to the sidewalls 14. In this manner, when containers 10 are stacked, the base 36 will rest on sidewalls 14 and at least a portion of the neck 13 and mouth 12 will be received in the female coupling 34.

The dimensions of the female coupling are such that neck 13 and mouth 12 of male coupling is received therein. Thus, the female coupling 34 on the bottom surface of an upper container will receive the mouth 12 and neck portion 13 of a below container. Preferably the female coupling 34 is larger than the mouth and neck portion radially so there is no frictional engagement between the respective portions. The base 36 will rest on the side walls 14 of the below container. Moreover, the weight of the above container will be supported by the sidewalls 14. In particular, the base 36 of the above container(s) will align with and rest on the sidewalls 14 of the respective below containers. The base 36 and the sidewalls 14 are substantially parallel so that the base 36 can rest on the sidewalls when stacked. In this manner the containers can be vertically stacked and nested to each other to provide support for the vertical weight forces of the stacked containers.

Ease of stacking of the containers 10 for shipping and in store sales is achieved in part by the plurality of sidewalls 14 and the container base 16 being longitudinally spaced apart from each other, substantially parallel to each other, and at least partially overlap radially. Because of this configuration, when the mouth 12 and neck portion 13 of a lower bottle is arranged in a central female coupling 34 of an upper bottle stacked thereon, the base 36 of the upper container will rest on the sidewalls 14 of the lower bottle.

FIG. 2A shows a stack 50 of containers 10 arranged on a pallet 52. The containers 10 are organized in multiple tiers 54, four such tiers are shown by way of example. A slip sheet 56, as shown in FIG. 2B, is positioned at a respective top of each tier of containers. The slip sheet contain holes 58 to receive the mouth 12 and neck 13 of each container in the particular tier. Each slip sheet 56 is made of rigid corrugate paper, plastic, or other like material and of a sufficient thickness to provide support and positionally retain the mouths of each container in a tier. Typically, the slip sheet 56 is about 5 mm. The slip sheet 56 is configured to rest between the sidewalls 14 of a lower container 10 and the base 36 of an upper container 10. The slip sheet exposes the mouth and neck of a container 10 but covers the sidewalls 14, as shown in FIG. 2C. According to one aspect of the invention, the slip sheet 56 is a reusable plastic sheet.

In use, a stack 50 is typically shipped with a plastic wrapping around the periphery of the stack and the pallet is moved to a desired position within a shopping environment. Once in place, the plastic wrapping along with the top slip sheet 56 is removed and discarded or stored for return, thereby providing consumers with access to the containers. Once a tier of containers is empty, the next slip sheet is removed and discarded or stored for return, whereupon the next tier of containers can be shopped, and so on. When the stack is depleted of containers, all that remains is a single palette, which can then be easily moved and another stack can then be so-positioned. Similarly, the slip sheets can be stacked and returned or discarded.

The containers/bottles are formed of plastic using known molding processes such as injection molding or blow molding. The material is suitable for the transportation and human consumption of water, other beverage, or dried goods that can be transported and sold in containers.

Thus, while there have shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. Moreover, it should be recognized that structures and/or elements and/or method steps shown and/or described in connection with any disclosed form or embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other disclosed or described or suggested form or embodiment as a general matter of design choice. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A container comprising: an upper container part having an upper container part outer profile, the upper container part having a height; a plurality of sidewalls that extend radially about at least a portion of the container, wherein the upper container part extends from a radially inner end of the plurality of sidewalls; a container base having a central female coupling formed therein, the central female coupling having a receiving profile that is complementary to the upper container part outer profile and a depth that is greater than the height of the upper container part; and a body extending between the a radially outer end of the plurality of sidewalls and the container base; wherein the plurality of sidewalls and the container base are longitudinally spaced apart from each other, substantially parallel to each other, and at least partially overlap radially.
 2. The container of claim 1, wherein the central female coupling is configured to receive at least a portion of the upper container part outer profile without frictional engagement.
 3. The container of claim 1, wherein the central female coupling is configured to receive at least a portion of the upper container part outer profile with frictional engagement.
 4. The container of claim 1, wherein the upper container part comprises a mouth and neck portion.
 5. The container of claim 1, wherein the container base comprises radial stiffening ribs.
 6. The container of claim 1, wherein the central female coupling comprises stiffening ribs.
 7. The container of claim 1, wherein the body comprises one or more of stiffening ribs and grip regions.
 8. The container of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sidewalls are separated by one or more shoulders.
 9. A shipping configuration for containers, wherein each container comprises: an upper container part having an upper container part outer profile, the upper container part having a height; a plurality of sidewalls that extend radially about at least a portion of the container, wherein the upper container part extends from a radially inner end of the plurality of sidewalls; a container base having a central female coupling formed therein, the central female coupling having a receiving profile that is complementary to the upper container part outer profile and a depth that is greater than the height of the upper container part; and a body extending between the a radially outer end of the plurality of sidewalls and the container base; wherein the plurality of sidewalls and the container base are longitudinally spaced apart from each other, substantially parallel to each other, and at least partially overlap radially; the shipping configuration comprising: a shipping pallet; a plurality of the containers in a first tier arranged in rows and columns on the shipping pallet; a first slip sheet arranged on the first tier of the plurality of the containers, wherein the first slip sheet rests on respective sidewalls of the plurality of the containers of the first tier, wherein an upper container part of each container projects through the first slip sheet; a plurality of the containers in a second tier arranged in rows and columns on the first tier, wherein respective central female couplings are arranged to receive respective upper container parts of each container that project through the first slip sheet and respective container bases of the second tier are supported by respective sidewalls of the first tier; and a second slip sheet arranged on the second tier of the plurality of the containers, wherein the second slip sheet rests on respective sidewalls of the plurality of the containers of the second tier, wherein an upper container part of each container projects through the second slip sheet. 